Bronzeville: Black Chicago in Pictures, 1941-1943

Bronzeville: Black Chicago in Pictures, 1941-1943
by Richard Wright, Russell Lee, Edwin Rosskam

Bronzeville: Black Chicago in Pictures, 1941-1943
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Book Summary Information

Author: Edwin Rosskam, Richard Wright, Russell Lee
Editor: Maren Stange
Photographer: International Center of Photography
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-04
ISBN: 1565849000
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: New Press, The

Book Reviews of Bronzeville: Black Chicago in Pictures, 1941-1943

Book Review: A perfect look back
Summary: 5 Stars

Bronzeville, located on the South Side of Chicago, was apparently given that name by the editor of the Chicago Bee and before that it was known as the 'Black Metropolis' because it was the center of black culture in America. Clearly an important place in black history and this stunning photobook shows what life was like there in the early forties.

What I thought was so remarkable about the book was the comprehensive coverage by FSA/OWI photographers Russell Lee, Edwin Rosskam, John Vachon and Jack Delano. With just over a hundred (beautifully printed) photos you'll see homes, workplaces, church activity, street scenes and folks having fun. These images are just so content rich and each has a story to tell. A nice touch is the inclusion of many text pieces taken from the Federal Writers' Project about Chicago. These excerpts are placed near relevant photos.

The book is an excellent production (paper, printing and design) but I just wonder why roman numerals were used for the first thirty-four pages, so that the contents page has two numbering styles. Also there are couple of examples of soft focus photos. Roy Stryker the boss in the Washington headquarters of the FSA/OWI used to punch holes in the negs of photos that he considered poor quality, clearly he missed some. The first photo spread in the book has a street scene on the left that is soft and blurred and the right-hand page has another street scene but pin sharp. Strangely both are by Russell Lee.

Maren Stange is to be congratulated on a first class editorial job with 'Bronzeville'. If you are interested in other FSA/OWI photos of Chicago have a look at 'Chicago and Downstate' (ISBN 0252060784) by Robert Reid and Larry Viskochil. The 162 photos (including some from 'Bronzeville') are a much wider coverage of life in the city and beyond by the same photographers.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Summary of Bronzeville: Black Chicago in Pictures, 1941-1943

A powerful collection of never-before-published WPA images of black Chicago's defining moment.

In the 1940s, the federal government sent a group of gifted photographers across the United States to record and publicize conditions in cities, towns, and rural areas that were the destination of an unprecedented migration. Two of these photographers, Russell Lee and Edwin Rosskam, spent time on Chicago's South Side, eventually producing over a thousand documentary images of Bronzeville's life. This unprecedented coverage of a black urban community?the only significant collection of photographs of black Chicago during this pivotal era?has largely gone unpublished.

Now, in over 100 handsome full-page black-and-white photographs of bustling city streets and sidewalks, prosperous middle-class businesses, thriving cabarets, as well as dirt-poor migrants from the deep South, this stunning tribute captures the vitality of a city whose burgeoning black population produced a vibrant and sophisticated culture. With original essays on the migration and the photography project, and contemporary commentary by Richard Wright and others, Bronzeville is a unique and visually arresting evocation of one of the defining moments in American cultural history. 120 black-and-white photographs.

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